It is a pleasure for me to come before the Faculty Senate and the whole University community to give my State of the University Address. Last year, I spent a large part of my report on the past: how we came from the major challenges of the mid-1980's to where we are today. I wanted to explain to new faculty that, at one time, Kansas State University was a very troubled university with declining enrollments, low faculty morale, poor public image, modest private fund-raising, and virtually no federal research funding. All of those things have changed over the last 20 years, and we are poised now for an extremely bright future. Therefore, today, I want to devote my speech to the present, but, even more importantly, to the future of Kansas State University.
Five or six years ago, I announced as a goal for this University to be among the top ten land-grant universities without medical schools. Why without medical schools? Because medical schools distort the overall statistics of a university. Frequently, they have a budget that is equal to the rest of the university, and high salaries paid at the medical school mask the average salaries of the rest of the university when they are included in the average faculty salaries. Frequently, the medical schools will have as great or greater federal research funding as the rest of the university. Therefore, our peers are the universities like us, land-grant universities without medical schools.
The Center for Measuring University Performance, formerly located at the University of Florida and now housed at Arizona State University, has identified several measures of excellence for comparing institutions. Some of those measures are total research dollars, federal research, academy members, faculty awards, number of doctoral students, post-docs, national merit scholars, endowment, and annual giving. Using these categories, K-State ranks 12th among land-grant institutions without medical schools. So, based on this study, we are just on the edge of entering the top ten. When we add two other numerical objective measures of a university's excellence -- one, in the success of our students winning the Rhodes, Marshall, Truman, Goldwater, and Udall Scholarships and, two, with our faculty frequently winning the Carnegie (CASE) U.S. Professor of the Year and the Carnegie (CASE) State Professor of the Year Awards -- K-State moves up to 10th in these rankings. The heart and soul of any good university are its faculty and students. Thus, because K-State students are No. 1 among all public universities in winning the five most prestigious academic scholarships and because K-State faculty have won so many Carnegie (CASE) U.S. Professor of the Year and State Professor of the Year Awards since that program started in the mid-1980's, K-State has a ranking of 10th in the University of Florida-Arizona State University rankings of land-grant universities without medical schools.
In the fall of 2007, K-State now has at least 34 academic departments and/or academic programs that are overall top 10 of all land-grant universities or top 10 of all land-grant universities without medical schools. Four of our colleges -- Architecture, Planning & Design, Agriculture, Veterinary Medicine, and Human Ecology -- are all either top 10 land-grant university colleges or are top 10 land-grant university colleges without medical schools.
For example, the K-State College of Architecture, Planning & Design is clearly in the top 10 in the United States of all public universities. All three departments in this College -- Architecture, Landscape Architecture/Regional and Community Planning, and Interior Architecture -- are ranked in the top 10 among their peers. For example, Interior Architecture is ranked 3rd among interior design programs by Design Intelligence and the Department of Architecture is ranked 6th best by Design Intelligence. The Almanac of Architecture and Design: 2005/6th Edition ranked four of our programs in the top ten in the country. Landscape Architecture is ranked 3rd among all U.S. departments of landscape architecture. The students and the faculty in these departments consistently win more than their fair share of national awards, prizes, fellowships, and recognition. In Design and Construction -- which includes Architecture, Interior Architecture, Landscape Architecture, and Architectural Engineering and Construction Science -- only five universities in America possess this complete constellation of programs.
The K-State College of Arts and Sciences has a number of top 10 land-grant university academic departments or programs without medical schools. The Division of Biology at K-State is recognized as a superb department from coast to coast. For example, the Division of Biology has a NASA research center for the commercialization of space, a NASA research center on gravitational biology, the Konza Prairie National Research Area, and the Center for Basic Cancer Research. The latter is the only basic cancer research center outside of a medical school in the United States. Dr. Spooner, the Director of the Division of Biology, reports that the Division has averaged about $10 million a year in extramural funding over the past five years or so, and that the Division of Biology has had 42 of its best and brightest majors win the Rhodes, Marshall, Truman, Goldwater, and Udall Scholarships. Indeed, the Division of Biology has had 21 Goldwater student scholarship winners since that scholarship program started -- which probably is more than most universities have won.
In Physics, we are well known for the MacDonald Laboratory in atomic physics, which is ranked No. 14 among similar programs. Researchers from all over the world come to our laboratory to conduct their experiments on our state-of-the-art accelerators. In terms of federal funding, Physics ranks first in departments at land-grant universities without medical schools and first among Regents designated peer institutions. By the same measure, our Physics department ranks third in the Big 12. The two departments above K-State, Texas and Colorado, have 49 and 44 faculty members respectively while KSU has only 26. The KSU Department of Physics and our Atomic Physics Program now rank in the top 10 of all land-grant universities without medical schools.
The K-State Department of Biochemistry has data showing for the last three years that the Department of Biochemistry is in the top 10 in National Institutes of Health funding -- while having a smaller faculty in similar departments that would represent peer university departments. Dr. Michael Kanost, the Head of the Department of Biochemistry, reports that his department has one of the best Insect Molecular Science Programs in the world. For example, between 1997 and 2007, the Department of Biochemistry's Insect Biochemistry and Molecular Biology faculty have published at least 100 scientific articles. With 100 scientific articles, this program would rank 5th in the world in terms of research articles published and 2nd in the nation for all American universities -- which is more than similar programs at the University of Wisconsin, the University of Illinois, Harvard University, the University of Texas, and the University of California-Davis.
Dr. Louis Pigno, the Head of the Department of Mathematics, wrote about the No. 1 priority for the Department of Math as follows: "A unique aspect of the mathematics program at KSU is its integrated approach to undergraduate, graduate, and postdoctoral research. . . The I-Center supports groups of undergraduate and graduate students, 4 post-docs, and 23 faculty jointly working in teams on cutting edge problems in Applied Mathematics/Differential Equations, Algebra/Number Theory, Classical and Modern Analysis, as well as Geometry/Topology. Senior faculty help postdoctoral fellows develop research projects suitable for undergraduates and show them techniques for engaging undergraduates in mathematical research. . . The Department, through the activities of the I-Center, has received national academic notice for its success in all the above competitions. During the last 19 years, 60 K-State students -- including 25 math majors have won Goldwater Scholarships. In 1996, our undergraduate team placed 12th in North America and first among public universities in the annual Putnam competition, and first in the Big 12 in three of the last five years; the Putnam Examination is the premier mathematics competition for undergraduates, and the examination is fiercely contested by every elite college or university in the USA and Canada."
K-State has arguably the best Military History Program and Strategic Studies Program in America today. The K-State Economics Department now ranks 10th among all land-grant universities without medical schools. And the Department of English has put together one of the nation's top 10 land-grant university programs in Children's Literature. We will talk more specifically about these three academic departments later in this presentation.
Colonel George Belin reports that the K-State Army ROTC Program is one of the top 10 Army ROTC programs in the nation based upon the excellent performance of our student cadets. Last year, for example, the K-State Army ROTC Battalion finished first out of 140 schools to be rated the Best ROTC Battalion in the Cadet Command Western Region.
The Department of Kinesiology, according to its Department Head, Dr. Dave Dzewaltowski: "has narrowed its focus to the study and application of physical activity for optimal health. The outcome of our priority setting activities is that Kinesiology has strategically emphasized two priority areas: Physiology of Exercise and Public Health Physical Activity Behavior. Both of these priority areas place our department in a unique niche and provide a compelling argument to place these programs in the top 10 of all land-grant institutions comparable to K-State (without medical schools)."
Furthermore, Dr. Dzewaltowski says this: "Exercise physiology at Kansas State University is widely recognized as a top 10 program in the nation. . . . K-State houses arguably the #1 program at land-grant institutions without a medical school. Five Kinesiology faculty members are experts in how exercise training may be used as a therapeutic modality in the prevention and treatment of disease states. Exercise physiology faculty and students study the physiology of health and disease through a variety of human and animal models. Over the last five years, faculty have published well over 100 peer reviewed research articles and have been the principal investigator on grants from the National Institutes of Health, American Heart Association, and other funding agencies for over $1.4 million. Faculty members have also been co-investigators on additional projects exceeding $2 million."
The KSU Department of Geography is one of the top geography departments in the nation. For example, the Ph.D. program in Geography now ranks 3rd in the nation among land-grant universities without medical schools and ranks 4th in the Big 12 among geography programs that offer a Ph.D. in Geography. Among all land-grant institutions, K-State's Geography Department ranks 3rd in NSF funding per faculty member for the years 2000-2007.
The K-State College of Agriculture has a number of top 10 academic departments and programs in terms of land-grant universities. For example, the Department of Grain Science and Industry has the only university-based program in flour milling, feed milling, and bakery science. This department has an unparalleled reputation in these industries in America and around the world. Our international short courses, which bring millers and bakers from all around the world to Manhattan, Kansas, has extended the reputation of this program to the four corners of the Earth.
Our Department of Animal Sciences and Industry is ranked in the top five or six departments nationally according to Meat and Poultry and plays a major role in the beef industry in the state and around the country. Efforts to protect the meat supply have been developed at Kansas State University, such as steam pasteurization of carcasses and vacuum packing of cut meat.
We also have a national Wheat Genetics Research Center that is internationally known and one of the truly elite programs in the world. Wheat varieties developed at Kansas State University are planted in over 70% of the wheat fields in the state of Kansas and are responsible for the ever-increasing yields and the resistence of our wheat crop to insect and biological damage. Our plant breeding and genetics is a joint effort of our departments of Agronomy, Plant Pathology, and the Division of Biology.
Our Department of Agronomy is clearly a top 10 land-grant university academic department and ranks number one in the number of combined faculty and student awards over the last 10 years, this with a faculty size smaller than some other ranked institutions, according to data supplied by the American Society of Agronomy, Crop Science Society of America, and the Soil Science Society of America, as well as compilations of honors derived from student competitions, presentations, and essays at the national level.
A study of research productivity shows that the Department of Agricultural Economics at KSU ranked first and fourth among all 96 North American agricultural economics departments. The Master's in Agribusiness program was recently recognized as the outstanding distance education degree program in the U.S. by the University Continuing Education Association. (Note: over 400 higher education institutions are members of the UCEA.)
The Department of Entomology ranks as one of the top 10 land-grant university departments. The College of Agriculture as a whole is ranked 12th in the nation. The College of Agriculture also ranks as a top 10 academic college with all land-grant universities without medical schools.
The K-State College of Veterinary Medicine is in the top 10 in extramural funding for research. The Department of Anatomy and Physiology ranks 6th in NIH funding among similar departments in colleges of veterinary medicine. The Department of Clinical Sciences and its Agricultural Practices Program ranks as a top 10 department in terms of all land-grant universities. The overall emphasis on Food Animal Medicine, along with the presence of the Food Animal Health and Management Center and the Nebraska partnership which includes the only Veterinary Medical Education program on the Federal Meat Animal Research Center at Clay Center, Nebraska, makes K-State a top five college in food animal production-related medicine.
Dr. M. M. Chengappa, the Head of the Department of Diagnostic Medicine/Pathobiology, reports that the Clinical Parasitology and Flea and Tick Research Program is not only one of the best programs of its kind in America, but it is one of the best programs of its kind in the whole world. In four out of the last five years, this departmental research group of faculty that make up the Clinical Parasitology and Flea and Tick Research Program has either been No. 1 or No. 2 in the number of accepted scientific papers at the American Association of Veterinary Parasitologists' Annual Meeting. In terms of a program for flea and tick control on dogs and cats, this program is probably the best anywhere. Dr. Chengappa reports that his Department's Rabies Laboratory Program is internationally known for excellence in rabies serology service. Finally, Dr. Chengappa believes that the Department's Swine Team of researchers and scientists that was put together in 2005 has become one of the top swine teams in the country with its work on emerging swine diseases.
Over the past five years, the Department of Anatomy and Physiology has strategically focused on two research areas that have become the two highest priorities for the Department. First, the Department's Center for Epithelial Function in Health and Disease has become a nationally-superior program since it was set up in 2002. The NIH has supported this Center at a total program level of $20 million since 2002. Second, the Department's Midwest Center for Comparative Stem Cell Biology was set up in 2005 and has become an outstanding program in the entire Midwest region. The Institute was created on the strength of discovery of unique stem cells within the umbilical cord matrix of humans and several animal species. Kansas State University has a patent pending on methods to harvest, grow, and store umbilical cord matrix stem cells and the use of matrix cells for therapy, tissue engineering, and biotechnology. To date, this technology has resulted in the largest licensing agreement received by the Kansas State University Research Foundation.
The College of Veterinary Medicine is the key player at K-State in helping make our Food Safety and Security Program the best in America today and the world and the College itself is one of the top 10 land-grant university colleges of veterinary medicine in America today.
The College of Human Ecology is ranked as one of the top 10 Colleges of Human Ecology in the United States by the U.S.D.A. Food and Agricultural Education Information System. Our College of Human Ecology is 3rd in undergraduate enrollment, 2nd in graduate enrollment, and 5th in external grants. The Marriage and Family Therapy program ranks 7th in the nation now according to the American Association of Marriage and Family and by the Gourman Report. The School of Family Studies and Human Services' Personal Financial Planning program is one of the top 10 land-grant programs in the nation and the Master's degree program in Communications Disorders ranks as one of the top 10 land-grant programs in the nation as well. Finally, the School of Family Studies and Human Services has created a new program called Health and Security of Military Families and that program now has 13 faculty that do research on the Health and Security of Military Families. This program already has received over $7 million in grants from the Departments of the Army and the Air Force through the USDA with another $2-4 million on the way. This program is arguably the finest of its kind in the nation today. The Hotel, Restaurant, Institution Management, and Dietetics Department ranks 16th in the nation in a Virginia Tech study and 14th in the Gourman Report. The undergraduate Interior Design program is ranked number 4. (Design Intelligence) The Counseling Education program is ranked 10th in faculty productivity. (Academic Analytics) The Communication Sciences and Speech Disorders program (Speech Pathology) ranks 11th out of 150 M.A. only programs.
The College of Human Ecology's Sensory Analysis and Consumer Behavior program in the Department of Human Nutrition, according to Dr. Denis Medeiros, is probably the best program of its kind in the nation today. This program successfully competes against schools like the University of California-Davis, the University of Minnesota, Iowa State University, Oregon State University, the University of Missouri, and Purdue University. The M.S. and Ph.D. programs are complimented by strong research programs supported by both government and industry resources. Regular internship experiences are part of the graduate student learning experience. As this is a strong priority, an additional faculty member in Sensory Analysis was hired two years ago. Following is one of the highlights of the last several years: for the 3rd year in a row, the Kansas State University Sensory Science team won first place in an international competition entitled the "Elaine Skinner Sensory Design Competition" sponsored by Sensory Spectrum, Inc. They were winners of this problem solving contest with over 60 world-wide entries.
The second priority for the Department of Human Nutrition is their program called Human Nutrition and Physical Activity. Dr. Denis Medeiros says this about his Department's No. 2 priority: "This priority area stemmed from our unique dual degree undergraduate program with the Department of Kinesiology. This 5-year rigorous program is one of a kind in the nation. While other programs offer nutrition and exercise degrees, they are not dual and are essentially watered down versions of selected courses in nutrition and exercise sciences. Students in this program receive two degrees. This program has stimulated the need to hire more faculty with expertise in nutrition and physical activity. Dr. Mark Haub was the first hire several years ago, and recently Dr. Tanda Kidd was hired to focus on obesity and physical activity in adolescents. Two faculty openings are now in progress where the aim is to strengthen this area."
Dr. Jana Hawley, the Department Head for Apparel, Textiles, and Interior Design, states that the ATID Interior Design Program is the top-ranked human ecology interior design program in America today. This program has a very selective admissions policy and only 140 students are allowed to study this program at any given time. This department also has an exceptional Aesthetic and Functional Apparel and Textiles Design Program. Dr. Hawley also believes that the Apparel Marketing Sustainable Marketing Program has the necessary pieces in place "to catapult this program into the number one program in the country."
The College of Technology and Aviation at K-State offers two-year and four-year programs in engineering technology and aviation at our Salina campus. Our aviation program has 300 students in the Professional Pilot program and 50 in the Aviation Maintenance Technology program. Our aviation program is one of the largest and best of the university-based professional pilot programs in the country. We have hosted the National Intercollegiate Flying Competition twice recently. We have a fleet of 40 training aircraft, including a turbo-prop and a jet.
The K-State College of Engineering has three academic departments that are top 10 among all land-grant universities without medical schools. For example, the College of Engineering has the second largest program in architectural engineering in the nation -- second only to Pennsylvania State University. The K-State Construction Science and Management Program is the 7th largest in the country. The student chapter of Associated General Contractors has won more 1st, 2nd, and 3rd place National Awards for Outstanding Student Chapter than any of the other 150 chapters in the country.
Both the Architectural Engineering program and the Construction Science and Management program are considered by peers to be in the top 10 of all land-grant universities in America. The Architectural Engineering program graduates 60 students a year, with 100% job placement. The Biological and Agricultural Engineering Department degree production in 2003 was in the top ten in all categories including 10th in the nation in BS degrees in Biological and Agricultural Engineering, 4th in Agricultural Technology Management BS degrees, 6th in MS degrees in Biological and Agricultural Engineering and 5th in Ph.D. degrees in Biological and Agricultural Engineering. Students in this department have won 7 Udall Scholarships, ranking the department on a par with Dartmouth, Duke, Florida, and Stanford universities in this measure.
Our Speech and Debate Squads are almost always top 10 every year with two National Championships in 1991 and 1993 for the Debate Squad and with 15 National Champions in Oratory, Impromptu, Critical Analysis, and After-Dinner Speaking for the Speech Squad between 1990 and 2007.
This is just a short list of some of the most prominent programs, and it is by no means a complete list. My goal here is simply to show you that we already have many departments, colleges, and programs at Kansas State University that rank in the top 10 of our peer group.
With respect to the successes of our students in winning national scholarships and fellowships, we are not only in the top 10 of land-grant universities, but in the top 10 of all American universities. Since 1986, students at Kansas State University have won 119 Rhodes, Marshall, Truman, Goldwater, and Udall Scholarships -- more than any of the 500 4-year public universities in America.. The next highest number won by the students of a public university is Penn State with 85 -- which is 34 fewer than Kansas State University. When we match up the successes of our students with those from the most expensive and most prestigious private universities in America, Kansas State University is 6th and is ahead of MIT, Cornell, Brown, and Chicago and all of the other great public and private universities in America. So, I would say that with respect to the achievements of our student scholarship accomplishments we are not only No. 1 of all the nation's land-grants, but K-State is No. 1 among all 500, four-year public universities.
Top 10 scholars--public and private colleges, universities--Rhodes, Marshall, Truman, Goldwater, Udall
Top 10 scholars--public colleges, universities--Rhodes, Marshall, Truman, Goldwater, Udall
I have just finished talking about the top programs and departments at Kansas State University and the incredible record of our students in winning the nation's most prestigious academic scholarships. Now, I want to talk about the top professors that we have had over the years at Kansas State University. Each year, the Carnegie Foundation names a Professor of the Year for each state and a National Professor of the Year. Since 1985, K-State has had nine winners in this competition, which include one National winner, two Silver Award winners, a category no longer used, and six State winners. No other Kansas school has ever had a National winner. For State Professor of the Year, among Regents Universities, Kansas State has had six winners, Wichita State four, Fort Hays State and the University of Kansas one each.
In 1996, Dean Zollman was the National Outstanding Research and Doctoral Universities Professor of the Year. Other professors were selected from Master's universities and colleges, baccalaureate colleges, and community colleges. Of course, being Professor of the Year for Research and Doctoral Universities is the crown of academia. In terms of U.S. Professors of the Year and State Professors of the Year, K-State, among all institutions, is tied with four other schools for 6th. Among all land-grants, we are fifth in a tie with three schools, and among land-grants without medical schools we are tied with three schools. Among Big 12 universities and our five peers, we are first in this category.
Thus, in our goal to achieve top 10 status, we have many top academic departments and programs; our student success is unparalleled; and we have an extraordinary showing in our faculty being selected as the Carnegie (CASE) Professors of the Year since that program was started by the Carnegie Foundation at Stanford, California, in 1985.
In addition to this national recognition of some of our outstanding faculty, we have 30 faculty who hold endowed chairs; we have 33 faculty who have been designated University Distinguished Professors; and we have two faculty members who hold Regents Chairs, Professors Marsden and Richt.
Over the years, Kansas State University has positioned itself among its peers by making tough choices, setting priorities, emphasizing some of the University's strengths, and always looking for opportunities to leverage those strengths. I would like to spend some time talking about some of our efforts and how they have paid off handsomely for Kansas State University and the promise they bring for the future such as our nationally-acclaimed Food Safety and Security Program, the BRI, the NBAF, the KBA, and the last, and, perhaps most important, our new proposed K-State Olathe Innovation Campus in Olathe, Kansas. Let me discuss each one in turn.
Let me start out with our decision to make Food Safety and Security our No. 1 priority in 1997 and 1998. Then, how that priority led to the construction of the BRI building in 2005-06 and how that led to the City of Olathe inviting K-State to build a campus in Olathe, Kansas, and, then, to K-State being picked as one of the Final Five sites for NBAF.
Years ago, we realized that K-State would have to set priorities to become excellent. In 1997-98, we decided to make Food Safety and Security our No. 1 university priority for the whole University. Now, ten years later, K-State has over 160 scientists in 14 different academic departments in six colleges that make up the world's finest food safety and security program. Today, China, Russia, and the European Common Market countries use our world-class animal and plant health scientists as advisors to their Ministries of Agriculture. Our National Agricultural Biosecurity Center (NABC), headed up by Dr. David Franz and his Associate Director, Dr. Marty Vanier, is second to none. It is recognized around the globe as the leader in developing research-based protocols for preventive strategies, emergency response, and the training of early response personnel -- be they in animal health, local government, or law enforcement.
The Biosecurity Research Institute, or BRI, was opened only last fall and dedicated to Senator Pat Roberts, who was instrumental in providing over $12 million in federal funds for the equipping of the BRI building. It is a $54 million building, and it is the finest B level-3 food safety and security building in the world. The building itself was funded through bonds provided by the State of Kansas for research facilities. The State will pay the first five years of the bond repayment, and Kansas State University will pick up the remaining bond payments through the additional sponsored research overhead generated by research in the BRI.
This building is unique in the world because, in addition to being a biological level-3 containment facility, it has within the containment area a complete packing plant kill floor as well as production tables used in vegetable packing plants and other meat packing plants. This allows researchers to work with toxic pathogens as they are found in these places and contributes to the research and the detection and remediation of bacteria which can infiltrate the food processing system, such as E. coli and BSE. This building will allow Kansas State University scientists, and scientists from other universities and even private companies, who are certified to work in such a facility, to do research that could not previously have been done at our university. This is a perfect example of the cooperative efforts of state government, the federal government, and Kansas State University.
The next acronym that you have read about in the last year or so is NBAF, the National Bio and Agro-defense Facility. This will be a $450 million research facility, at the biological level-4 containment, owned and operated jointly by the U.S. Department of Agriculture and the U.S. Department of Homeland Security. In the beginning, 34 sites were in the competition. K-State was one of those. Then, the K-State proposal was picked as one of the top 17 sites by the NBAF team. Then, in very big news, Kansas State University was selected as one of five finalists -- with the national competition for the world's most important new BL-4 building coming from the University of Georgia, North Carolina State, and the University of Texas. The Department of Homeland Security will make the final selection in October of 2008.
What would this mean for Kansas State University, Manhattan, and the state of Kansas? The building would cost a half-billion dollars and there would be approximately 400 scientists in high-level technical jobs at the NBAF, and an annual payroll of millions of dollars. It would provide extraordinary opportunities for Kansas State University researchers to participate in the highest levels of agricultural and biological research and would make available to Kansas State University a large number of highly-talented adjunct faculty. We will know by October of 2008 whether or not we have been selected as the site. One important result of our effort is that we have been able to work together with the State of Kansas, the Governor, the City, the County, and the University to put together a very persuasive and compelling proposal. This kind of joint, cooperative effort is not as common as you might think, and it shows the can-do spirit of all of the players. The truth is that K-State has a shot at being selected for this national building and just being a finalist has already paid dividends in new collaborative research and attracting new opportunities for K-State.
The next acronym I want to discuss is the KBA, the Kansas Bioscience Authority. This quasi-State agency was established in 2004 by the Legislature in order to accumulate sufficient funds so that the State could focus on enhancing the biological sciences in Kansas. In particular, they wanted the money to attract companies involved in biological sciences to Kansas and, also, to recruit research teams that would come to our universities and to private research institutes to further the State's efforts in becoming a major player in the biological sciences. The KBA has already supported projects at Kansas State University, NISTAC, and the BRI. They are now calling for bioscience centers of innovation, and Kansas State has put together proposals in plant sciences, animal health, and biofuels. These are all areas in which Kansas State University has a long history of outstanding research. Funding for the KBA will gradually rise to $600 million, which will allow a very significant infusion of State funding into all of these efforts to enhance the biosciences in Kansas.
Since 2003-2004, the Greater Kansas City Chamber of Commerce has tried to determine what the future goals of Kansas City should be over the next decade. They decided that biosciences would be the key to the future of Kansas City with two top priorities -- human health and animal health. In the study, the Chamber discovered that the Kansas City Metro area had over 120 animal health firms -- with 30 having national headquarters in the Kansas City region. Those 120 animal health firms included animal pharmaceuticals to animal food to animal care products. Kansas State University is forging important partnerships with these companies. This study definitely helped convince the City of Olathe in Johnson County to offer the University 40 acres of prime land in order to develop a K-State Innovation Campus in the fastest growing city in Johnson County -- Olathe. This new KSU Olathe Innovation Campus is extremely important for our university because it takes our animal research capabilities directly to the metropolitan area that is so involved in animal health. We believe having a presence in Olathe will greatly contribute to our joint ventures with many of these companies. For the first time in the history of K-State, we will now have a university campus in Johnson County -- where about 25,000 K-State graduates live.
NISTAC is the National Institute for Strategic Technology Acquisition and Commercialization. This is a long name for our efforts at commercializing the intellectual property developed at Kansas State University or acquired elsewhere. In the beginning, it was a rather modest effort to take intellectual property developed at Kansas State University, patent it, and commercialize it either by licensing patents and collecting royalties or by developing start-up companies that could, then, lead into the commercial marketplace. While it began as an effort to commercialize our own intellectual property, shortly thereafter, it was able to participate in the acquisition of intellectual property from the portfolios of large corporations, which had decided, for one reason or another, not to pursue commercial products based on their patents. These patents were donated, and Kansas State University, through NISTAC, was able to acquire over 1,100 foreign and domestic patents worth an estimated $250 million.
NISTAC has commercialized over 35% of this portfolio by licensing the use of the patents to other companies and collecting royalties on that use. Other kinds of intellectual property have been commercialized through start-up companies, such as Nanoscale Technologies, which has taken the laboratory research of University Distinguished Professor Ken Klabunde to the marketplace through a series of feasibility research projects, initial process proving pilot plants, and, then, into a commercial plant which produces marketable products.
Nanoscale (1997): Nanotech companies have popped up all across our nation. Most are pursuing elusive markets that are a better fit for science fiction. At K-State, we focused on technology that was practical, and a closer-to-ready fit for customer need. Under the skilled leadership of its CEO, Bill Sanford, revenues have reached sustained growth providing sufficient company income to make Nanoscale one of the first profitable nanotech companies in the country. This is a huge and very real achievement. KSU is still a major equity holder in Nanoscale and prospects for substantial growth and value creation in this company are tremendous.
Through another start-up company, Global Lipidomics, under the direction of Dr. Ruth Welti, KSU is positioned to be a global leader in lipid profiling, which is useful in understanding animal health, crop health, and human health. Lipidomics is an emerging market that is similar to genomics and proteomics and is anticipated to reach $500 million per year in the next decade.
NISTAC is also a partner in a joint venture with Dignitas Partners, LLC, in New York City to focus on enhanced heat transfer reforming technology, which was donated by Air Products and Chemicals to NISTAC. This technology allows for the conversion of natural gas streams into synthetic fuels, including clean diesel, in a manner that reduces Capital Expenditure by 20%, on plants that cost $5 billion to build, and Operating Expenditure by 5-7% over conventional methods. Via the incorporation of strategic partnerships that are being identified and leveraged by the managing partners of the startup, GTLpetrol, in which NISTAC is a 30% equity holder, intends to develop "Mini-GTL" plants which will be used to convert stranded natural gas streams, those which are not readily located near a gas pipeline, into synthetic fuels which will serve the needs of certain populations.
Sunflower Integrated Bioenergy Center, LLC (2007): Progress continues to be made on this very innovative Finney County project. The Sunflower Integrated Bioenergy Center (SIBC) utilizes as its core the announced $3 billion expansion of the Holcomb coal-fired Sunflower Electric Plant. Surrounding this core will be a $380 million bioenergy system including commercial scale production operations for methane gas, algae, ethanol, and biodiesel. This system will be integrated in an economically and environmentally attractive fashion. Since it is believed this systems configuration is unique in the world, NISTAC has filed a business process patent to protect the concept and this patent has been validated.
NutriJoy, Inc. (2001): NutriJoy is a company that K-State developed with a patent from Proctor & Gamble. NutriJoy produced an amazing nutritional and tasty drink called Cal-C. Cal-C has been marketed and sold all across America and it has become a very popular health and nutrition drink. NutriJoy has recently signed an agreement with Coca-Cola to develop and test new products, which will leverage the technologies and know-how that have been generated at NutriJoy during the development and sale of their Cal-C product. This partnership firmly places the Manhattan startup and K-State in the forefront of a major R&D effort with the nation's leading beverage company.
Separate and in addition to this, progress is being made with the GoodBites technology which also is housed in NutriJoy, Inc. Led by President David Yang, interaction is underway with a privately held confectionary company having national distribution. The company has significant interest in enrobing filled GoodBites low-calorie, high-satiety crackers with chocolate and taking the product through their existing channels to market.
PharmCats (2006): PharmCATS is a vibrant new K-State rollout company from the College of Veterinary Medicine that provides analytical and educational services for pharmacological and toxicological research for academic, industry, and government entities. The company is underpinned by four American board certified veterinary clinical pharmacologists and toxicologists with expertise in study design, chemical analysis, data analysis, and report preparation. And, I might add, there are only 48 Boarded pharmacologists in the United States and we have four of them. The early financial outlook for the company is evolving better than anticipated. Analytical services contracts with aggregate revenues greater than $100,000 are currently in process, with several more projects being discussed that could attain an additional $200,000 over the next several months. Perhaps most exciting from the perspective of the business model is its first review of protocols for an east coast company that coordinates drug approval projects for other companies. This development holds great promise for significant company growth. PharmCATS has the challenge right now of managing its current workload and remaining focused on its GLP initiative. This will be a very high growth company over the next several years.
Veterinary Diagnostic Lab (2006): Veterinary Diagnostic Laboratories (VDL) is an analytical service and molecular diagnostic rollout company from the College of Veterinary Medicine. VDL's initial focus will be directed towards BVD testing and potential testing of BSE (Mad Cow Disease). The BVD testing will be new technology from Germany that has been brought into the U.S. by Enfer Diagnostics and VDL is currently the only lab using this next generation diagnostic test. Press releases have gone out about the test/technology and the company is receiving many calls of interest. It will likely take another 4-6 weeks to being to see significant volume of samples being sent to VDL from cattle producers, which will mesh well with the beginning of the fall cattle movement.
KSU Stem Cells (2006): Toucan Capital, a D.C. based Venture Capital fund, has signed an exclusive license with Kansas State University to become our strategic partner in commercializing the umbilical cord matrix stem cell jointly discovered by the KSU College of Agriculture and the College of Veterinary Medicine. Toucan will cross license the technology to each of its 12 affiliate stem cell companies potentially enabling a quicker time to market in the areas of cardiovascular, central & peripheral nervous system, and orthopedic/cosmetic. In addition to the possibility of very large returns to K-State in the long term, Toucan has also been funding research at K-State in the short term, $93,000 so far and with more to come.
AgRenew Inc. (1999): The bio-barrel, a patented edible barrel invented at K-State and developed by KSU startup, AgRenew, has been exclusively sublicensed to Ridley Inc., a global leader in feed barrels. Operations began in 3rd Quarter 2006, and sales have already surpassed an annualized rate of over 60,000 barrels. KSU benefits from the royalty stream both by taking a percentage of royalties as Licensor and as an equity holder in AgRenew. Also during this time, AgRenew is ramping up its federal Small Business Innovation Research grant activities on the commercial development of a PLA/Starch based agricultural film (which is another K-State patented technology) which could be used to replace traditional petrochemical based plastic film products in a number of markets.
I could give other examples of the exciting companies which have been spun off of intellectual property both acquired from other companies and developed at Kansas State University.
Let me stop at this point and give some credit to the outstanding people who have made all of these research and commercialization efforts possible. Vice President Ron Trewyn has played a key role in the establishment of the Biosecurity Research Institute, along with Dr. Jim Stack, who is the Director of the BRI. Many other faculty have participated in the design of the building and will be participating in the research. Our efforts to get the federal NBAF facility to Manhattan is ably led by Tom Thornton, President of the Kansas Bioscience Authority, and by a Governor's Task Force. Many of us at Kansas State University, including myself, have met with federal officials to make them aware of the advantages that we have in Manhattan and at Kansas State. NISTAC has been led by Bob Krause, our Vice President of Institutional Advancement and also the Chairman of the Board of NISTAC, and by President Kent Glasscock, former Speaker of the Kansas House of Representatives. Bob Krause has also played a pivotal role in laying the groundwork for our Olathe campus, and Provost Duane Nellis has played an important role in overall administration of these efforts and through his coordination of K-State's Commercialization Leadership Council (CLC).
Why do I emphasize these agencies, entities, buildings, and campuses? It is because they are the result of the very thing that will take Kansas State University to new heights in the future: setting priorities. We made food safety and security our highest priority over 10 years ago, and this made perfect sense because Kansas State University has been involved in the safety and security of the food system virtually since its founding in 1863. Many advances in meat packing, for example, have come from the research done at Kansas State University. So, it was only natural that we would play an important role in this area. Some of you may remember that, in October of 1999, I led a group of Kansas State University scientists to Washington to testify before Senator Pat Roberts' Subcommittee on Emerging Threats. In the fall of 1999, we were talking about intentional and as well as unintentional threats to the national food supply and, indeed, to the economy of the state and the nation if our food exports were rejected by other countries as our meat was after the BSE scare.
Targeted Excellence and priority setting have been at the very top of our agenda for the last 10 years. Four years ago, we developed a formal program called Targeted Excellence, where we invited groups of faculty, mostly crossing interdisciplinary lines, to propose new ways of thinking about important research possibilities. These proposals were vetted by both internal and external evaluators, and those that were selected were funded at a level sufficient to get them underway.
The Targeted Excellence Program made its first awards in 2004. The goals of the program were to leverage the expertise of the faculty, make significant contributions to teaching, research, and service, have the potential to gain significant extramural funding, and elevate the national recognition of the University as a whole.
Over the past three years of funding Targeted Excellence proposals, there are six institutional focus areas that have evolved: (1) food safety and security, (2) biosciences, genomics and bioinformatics, (3) community development and engagement, (4) human dimensions of global change and sustainability, (5) security studies, and (6) technology innovation and commercialization.
As a summary of funding decisions for our Targeted Excellence projects, in FY 2005, the project themes can be grouped generally into four major areas: food safety and security, nanoparticle sciences, military history, and environmental preservation. In FY 2006, we funded proposals in ecological genomics, sensor technologies, geospatial technologies, and civic engagement. For FY 2007, the projects related to ecological genomics, internationalization, enhancing science and engineering opportunities for underrepresented groups, and new models for math learning. In FY 2008, project proposals were funded for sustainable energy, biodiversity and bioinformatics for digital plant and insect collection, nanostructured materials for indoor air quality, sorghum translational genomics, scientific advancement for comparitive stem cell biology, East Asian studies, and the Beef Cattle Institute.
I have attached a summary of the actual proposals which were funded during these four years.
You may think that setting priorities is only for the sciences, but nothing could be farther from the truth. Provost Nellis and I have asked every department to establish priorities -- to find niches where they can become nationally prominent. There are many examples of how this has led to success in the University, but, in this speech, I would like to just mention several of them. Seven or eight years ago, several positions came open in the History Department, and they chose to focus on military history. As a result, our History Department went from one or two military historians to seven. The result of their focus on military history led to a joint Ph.D. with the Combat Studies Institute in the Command and General Staff College of Ft. Leavenworth. That interaction, in turn, led to the development of the M.A. and Ph.D. in Security Studies that combines at least 15 faculty from the KSU Departments of History and Political Science and over 22 faculty in security studies and military history from Fort Leavenworth's Command and General Staff College. There is no program like this in the world today and the leadership of the U.S. Army will testify to the excellence of this program. Because we focused on military history and security studies, we have received to date over $4.5 million in federal appropriations for the establishment of the academic programs in Security Studies and the American Soldier Project in the Institute for Military History at Kansas State.
Another example comes from the English Department, which, a number of years ago, chose to have as one its areas of emphasis Children's Literature. In the past five years, four faculty whose main emphasis is children's literature have been hired by the English Department. Together with three other faculty who also have as one of their specialties children's literature in the English Department, they have formed a core of seven faculty who are now one of the most important research groups in this area in the country. The result has been three books published and three more forthcoming by these faculty, three edited journal issues on children's literature, 24 peer-reviewed articles and essays, three external grants, 59 conference presentations, 34 invited talks, 16 Master's projects, and, as most of you are aware, an unbelievable number of interviews and citations and mentions in newspapers and magazines about a couple of our faculty's work -- about Phil Nel's work, in particular -- on the Harry Potter series of children's literature.
Another example that I would like to use comes from our Department of Economics, so ably led by Professor Lloyd Thomas. They took the opportunity to focus their hiring recently in the area of macroeconomics, monetary economics, and international economics. This hiring is consistent with augmenting the Department's key strengths in macroeconomics and monetary economics -- where they now have five faculty members in this important area. The result of priority setting has led to our Economics Department being ranked 10th among its peer land-grant institutions that do not have medical schools. The point that I am making here is that when departments focus on a specialized area, use vacancies to hire professors in that area, and put other resources in support of that area, such as invited speakers, professional symposia, or support for professional travel, the departments have an opportunity to move into the top ranking in those areas. This moves the entire department forward and certainly moves the University forward.
Dr. Bonnie Rush, the Department Head of Clinical Sciences, has prepared a memo talking about the hiring in the past two years of nine new faculty members. The nine new hires are in food safety and security -- especially in beef production. This group of nine faculty joined two faculty already there in the Agricultural Practices Section. The Department of Clinical Sciences in the College of Veterinary Medicine in the food animal area might now be the very best in America.
The point I am making is that whether it is food safety and security or military history, economics or English, architecture or grain science, all around the University, departments have been and are setting priorities and, then, matching those priorities with their actions in the personnel they hire, the research projects they propose, and the activities they support.
By setting priorities, we have put the University in a position to excel in the future. Our success will depend on our willingness to focus our research efforts in areas that hold the greatest promise of significant results, extramural funding, and innovations that will benefit the University and society. But more important than any particular project or set of projects will be our ability to continue empowering people at all levels, especially deans and department heads. The deans are the CEO's of their colleges and have been granted by Provost Nellis and me the authority and the responsibility to manage their colleges. Department heads are important academic leaders because the most important academic decisions are made at the departmental level, those involving curriculum and those involving personnel. This is why we have put so much effort and emphasis on department head training. The truth is that we have the best academic deans and the best academic department heads in the history of Kansas State.
The Board of Regents this year is putting special emphasis on the role of the universities in economic development. This is not a new theme for Kansas State University. Like other land-grant schools, we were founded to directly affect the economy of the state. Originally, our charge was to teach "agriculture and the mechanic arts to the sons and daughters of the working classes." There was always thought to be a symbiotic relationship between knowledge and practice, and that the goal of the land-grant schools was to take the new knowledge from the universities and apply it in a way that would benefit the citizens of the state. This became more formalized with the Hatch Act of 1887, which established the agricultural experiment stations and the Smith-Lever Act of 1914, which established the cooperative extension service. So, Kansas State University has always been involved in economic development.
First of all, we contribute enormously to the economy of the state through the education of 23,000 students a year, and we graduate more than 4,500 annually. Right now, there are more than 55,000 K-State alumni living and working in the state of Kansas. This has an extraordinary impact on the human capital of the state, because, in the end, the creation of wealth depends on people.
Second, the ever-increasing federal research done at Kansas State University has a direct financial impact on the state, since we bring in over $110 million in competitive research funding into the state. Another important economic input is the over $90 million a year that our K-State alums give to Kansas State University, which allows us to award scholarships, reward our most outstanding faculty, build research buildings on our campus such as the Hale Library, Chalmers Hall, and Fiedler Hall, to name only three.
If you look at the results of Kansas State University research, especially in agriculture, you see that research has had a tremendous effect in many areas. For example, research and discoveries in meat processing have contributed over $300 million to the state of Kansas. Our research in feedlot performance and livestock nutrition have contributed over $250 million. The steam pasteurization of carcasses has contributed over $70 million, while improved wheat varieties is responsible for a $51 million increase in total state production. Our work in plant disease diagnostics is responsible for over $46 million. So, you can see from this summary the enormous effect that Kansas State has had on the economic productivity of the state of Kansas. When you put all of these together, our contribution annually for the economic development of Kansas is approximately $3 billion. And the State puts into our budget about $165 million in State Appropriated dollars. Thus, the State of Kansas gets a tremendous return on the modest input -- which amounts to about 21% of our total budget, and results in over $3 billion in added economic value.
We are very proud of the contribution Kansas State makes to the state's economy, but we are equally proud of the contributions our faculty make to the arts, the social sciences, and, most importantly, the basic sciences. Sooner or later, every practical application that is directly commercializable rests on a broad and deep foundation of basic science. We need graduates who are prepared to go on in law and medicine, business, to work for social agencies, to be well-educated to participate in the democratic decision making of the most important social choices, and to lead a satisfying and productive life. This is why my vision of the University is essential to the whole, and that we move the University forward when we move any part of it forward through priority setting and through targeted investments in the most promising areas. This brings us, in a certain sense, in a full circle.
Our future will depend on our ability to remain nimble, creative, and flexible in our thinking. It depends on bold and decisive actions and the willingness to take risks. But, most of all, it depends on the enthusiasm and can-do attitude of each and every person in the university community and on an atmosphere of care, concern, collegiality, tolerance, friendship, and cooperation that has long been a hallmark of Kansas State University. We have a great future because of each and every one of you.